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Have You Seen The Yellow Sign?
Introduction to the Mythos If you are unfamiliar with The Yellow Mythos, the introduction will get you started. See also the box to the right for more general information. Who or what is The King In Yellow? These pages look at the various items that go by the title The King In Yellow: in particular the 'original' play (author unknown); the book (partly concerning this play) written by Robert W. Chambers; and the entity that appears within the confines of the play and yet can be encountered outside of it too. Finally there is a page devoted to Kings in Yellow that have appeared in other mythologies and un-related tales. *The real book *The fictional play *The character *...in other fiction What is the 'Mythos'? Over time a great mass of created fiction can build up around the core canon of an invented universe, into a collection of very many elements, characters, settings and themes, often disparate and sometimes contrary – a "mythos", whose various parts may be weaved together in different prose stories, poetry, games, films and so on into an interconnected, quasi-real folklore (there is, after all, a close linguistic association with mythology), although not necessarily an unambiguous or unchanging one. The King In Yellow's mythos is based in greater part upon just a handful of century-old tales and only a small number of (often highly vague) in-universe 'facts', on which there is no definitive living authority whom we may question or appeal to. So there is in fact very little that is 'hard' canon, and as a result the book is unusual in being the basis of what can be thought of as several largely overlapping, frequently muddied – the names are often used interchangeably – yet in some areas distinct variants on one mythos, which have built upon these slender foundations in slightly differing ways: *The Yellow Mythos – the most useful 'umbrella' term, this can mean either or both of the following two, but fundamentally draws upon the concepts derived from Robert Chambers' writing, particularly things associated with the eponymous colour; *The Carcosa Mythos – which takes a relatively narrow path, the lineage focusing upon the mysterious city of Carcosa, including its earliest incarnation as set down by Ambrose Bierce, and those fictions that regard the King in Yellow as a terrible god in his own right rather than an avatar of some other eldritch abomination; *The Hastur Mythos – which in contrast places the King and all things related firmly within a larger (though later-established) continuity, which The King In Yellow in fact helped to influence, known as **The Cthulhu Mythos, a widely-referenced mythology based on the writings of H.P. Lovecraft and subsequently greatly codified by August Derleth. The following are some very useful first ports of call: *Introduction to the Mythos is a helpful primer on the overall story and the universe surrounding The King In Yellow and related texts. *Defining the 'Mythos' explores more fully the above-mentioned notion of there being multiple, varying but interdependent versions of the mythology. *What counts as Mythos canon? This is a guide to what (if anything) must be regarded as necessary, sacrosanct and inviolate components of the Mythos. Related topics to The King In Yellow These pages look at those elements in the fiction that are almost always mentioned in relationship to The King In Yellow – sometimes they are more important to the stories than the King himself. They include: *The Yellow Sign *Carcosa *The Pallid Mask *The Lake of Hali *Hastur Much of the fiction, including that involving the wider Hastur Mythos, refers to cults and inhuman servitors in thrall to the King and the Yellow Sign. There is also a strong history of referring to certain features in the Mythos' cosmology, notably the Hyades and Aldebaran. Source material for the Mythos This includes published written material where the Play, the King, the Sign or Carcosa play an important part, including significant texts such as: *'An Inhabitant of Carcosa' and 'Haita the Shepherd' by Ambrose Bierce – the very first stories in the evolving Carcosa Mythos and Hastur Mythos. *''The King In Yellow'' – 1895 collection of short stories by Robert W. Chambers, in which he took names from Bierce's two tales and used them to hint at a broader mythos. This collection defines much of the fiction. *'The Whisperer in Darkness' by H.P. Lovecraft – brought the concept of Hastur into the Cthulhu Mythos. *'The Return of Hastur' by August Derleth – did much to define the Cthulhu Mythos version of Hastur. Other related works Games Various games (especially role-playing) that mention the Yellow Mythos, such as Call of Cthulhu and Trail of Cthulhu. These are an important source for the Hastur Mythos version of the continuity in particular. Film and TV Appearances of the Yellow Mythos in moving pictures. Music Musical works based on or inspired by the contents of The King in Yellow, or which have inspired addition to the Mythos. Further Recommendations Stories and poems that touch on similar themes to those explored by this Mythos, such as The Phantom Of The Opera and The Yellow Book. Theories on all things Yellow Pages discussing various aspects of The Yellow Mythos and taking ideas in various directions. Submissions Wanted and New Releases A chance for writers and readers to keep abreast of new projects related to The Yellow Mythos that are open to submissions or which are newly available for purchase. Required Information that is required to further flesh out this wiki. Links *Taint of Yellow: A Mythos in the Making? An article looking at the possibility of Chambers' work spawning a wide spanning mythology. *Simon Bucher-Jones's pantechnicon extravaganza Blog including King In Yellow and Cthulhu Mythos-related pieces. *The King in Yellow full text at Project Gutenberg *The King in Yellow at yankeeclassic.com *The King in Yellow at sff.net *The King in Yellow publication history at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database *"The King in Yellow": An Introduction by Christophe Thill *The Carcosa Collection – another site dedicated to the same Mythos, with an interesting alternative version of The Yellow Sign (the symbol) Using this wiki The category tags at the bottom of most pages are an excellent way to find related information – just click on the tag to be taken to a list of all the pages in that category. When adding or updating pages on this Wiki please bear the following points in mind : *Make use of the tags – these are really useful, but do make sure you put new pages in the correct category! *Only make drastic changes to content where absolutely necessary (ie errors) or where an entry is incomplete. *Make sure you are certain of your facts before changing information. If you are not 100% certain or a point is contentious, please leave the existing information and add yours with an indication as to the doubt or dispute. Alternatively, put a request for clarification on the Required page. *Where information does not ''directly ''relate to The Yellow Mythos (such as the broader Cthulhu Mythos) please do not add it to the Wiki unless you really have to – use links to Wikipedia or a specialised Wiki instead. Non-Mythos stories are fine if a) they influenced or are strongly influenced by the Mythos, b) deal with similar themes that may be of interest to readers or c) demonstrate an interesting concept or involve some interesting trivia. *When creating a new page, please doublecheck that it doesn't already exist – a couple of duplicates have arisen due to issues of capitalisation and styles of abbreviation. Also, make sure that the spelling and form is correct to prevent duplication by error. The Wiki works best when it is easy to find information! Thanks This site wouldn't exist if it wasn't for a lot of people. We would like to say thank you for as many of those people as we can.